Breaking Away 1979

Critics score:
94 / 100

Reviews provided by RottenTomatoes

Janet Maslin, New York Times: Here is a movie so fresh and funny it didn't even need a big budget or a pedigree. Read more

Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader: Peter Yates, previously typed as an action director, lends the film a fine, unexpected limpidity, and the principals are mostly excellent. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Breaking Away is a wonderfully sunny, funny, goofy, intelligent movie that makes you feel about as good as any movie in a long time. It is, in fact, a treasure. Read more

Richard Schickel, TIME Magazine: There are a few moments when the picture's easygoing pace turns into wobbliness, but these are insignificant compared with its many moments of shrewd insight into the lives of amusingly shaded but very recognizable human beings. Read more

Time Out: Displays the kind of unsentimental optimism that went out of fashion with Hawks. Read more

Variety: Though its plot wins no points for originality, Breaking Away is a thoroughly delightful light comedy. Read more